Zenzile Miriam Makeba was a remarkable talent and a global icon of music. She was popularly known as "Mama Africa" - which is very apt considering her nurturing, maternal spirit. She founded the Makeba Centre for Girls after realising the need for a place of safety for young girls who were destitute, and often abused.

Miriam said that the Makeba Centre for Girls is the most important and personal project that she had ever done in her life. She maintained the saying "Educate a woman and you educate a nation" as it is the women and mothers that lead their families and set an example.

Up to the end of her life at the age of seventy six, Miriam visited the Centre on a regular basis. The girls were extremely close to her heart and she tracked their progress with interest and love.

Miriam Makeba was more than just a singer - she is regarded as a symbol of peace and freedom. She was dedicated to the fight against apartheid and continued to support humanitarian causes against social injustice throughout her life. Both local and international academic institutions have acknowledged her contribution to the arts and awarded her with twelve Honorary Doctorates in Music, Philosophy and the Arts to date. She was President Thabo Mbeki's Goodwill Ambassador to Africa in 2004 and received many other awards, including the Polar Music Prize from the King of Sweden and the Gold Class Commandeur de la Legion d'honneur from French President, Jacques Chirac. This was an incredible achievement as there are only two other South Africans who have been awarded the Legion of Honour: former President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Miriam was also honoured by Dr Pallo Jordan, the Arts and Culture Minister, for her speeches made to the United Nations Committee Against Apartheid on July 16th 1963. At this ceremony, the children from the Makeba Centre for Girls came up on stage and sang for her.

Zenzile Miriam Makeba was born in Johannesburg in 1932, and grew up singing at church and in her school choir. She sang with groups in the townships at social events and grew in popularity, touring South Africa despite the 'pass laws'. In the fifties she started singing jazz operas, and towards the end of the decade she left South Africa to promote a film, for which she contributed to the soundtrack, at the Venice Film Festival. She was asked to do some performances in the United Kingdom, and then The Steve Allen Show in America. This led to more performances in America, as well as articles about her in Time and Look magazines. She became famous for her unique music that celebrated her African roots and remained true to her culture.

In the sixties, while she was performing overseas, Miriam's passport was revoked and she was not permitted to return to South Africa - the government officially banned her from returning home. She therefore made a life with her daughter in America. There, she made many recordings and set up her own publishing company. Her music became global as she performed in many different languages - from English to Xhosa, Portuguese, Arabic, French and even kiSwahili. She also performed in countries round the world including Tanzania, Surinam, Cuba, Sudan, Switzerland and France.

Miriam interacted with many well known people such as Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Marlon Brando who shared her views about African liberation and independence. In the eye of such public spectacle she was the ideal spokesperson for the situation in South Africa. She delivered her first of three speeches to the United Nations about how the Verwoerd government had turned South Africa into a huge prison, and she appealed to the world to stop supplying arms to South Africa. She also convinced Aretha Franklin not to play at Sun City. Such activities caused her music to be officially banned in South Africa.

While in America Miriam helped found organisations to support South Africa students in exile there. She regularly met up with other exiles such as Oliver Tambo. Her husband Stokely Carmichael was also very active in politics and the black resistance. With both of them being so outspoken in America, they were met with much suspicion and decided to move to Guinea in 1969. This was at least a return to Africa which she had missed so much in the last decade.

In Guinea, Miriam's philanthropy continued and she opened a maternity centre in Dalaba as there were few proper healthcare facilities for women. She also frequented a social centre where women were taught how to make things.

Miriam called herself "a citizen of the world" as she had been given passports for eight other countries. She was still 'not wanted' in South Africa. She went to many places as a representative of Guinea as part of her civil duty as a guest of the country. These were hard times as performances were non-paying. During one such trip to Zaire in 1974, Miriam sang at the big "Rumble in the Jungle" fight between George Foreman and Muhammed Ali.

In 1965 Miriam won a Grammy award. Other highlights of her career include sharing the stage with Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall and her birthday salute to President John F Kennedy playing alongside artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Marilyn Monroe and Maria Callas. She performed for the Pope twice and was part of the independence celebrations of Kenya, Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique and other countries.

In 1987 she joined Paul Simon on his Graceland World Tour. Halfway through, Miriam broke her leg and performed in a wheelchair for the rest of the tour. This testifies to the spirit of Miriam Makeba. She was a fighter and a survivor - against political oppression and personal obstacles such as her battle against cancer. Despite the difficulties she faced, Miriam continued to pick herself up and carry on - an inspiration to people - and especially women - everywhere.

After over 30 years in exile spent in America, Guinea and Belgium, Miriam returned home to South Africa in 1991 after Nelson Mandela was freed and all political organisations unbanned. She was reinstated as a South African citizen. At the age of 62 on April 27th 1994 she voted for the first time in her life.

After returning to South Africa she played the mother of Sarafina in the film of the same name and continued with her musical performances around the world. In the year 2000 she released the album Homeland, for which she received her second grammy nomination.

In 2002, at the age of 70, Miriam received the Polar Music Prize in Switzerland, in recognition of her exceptional achievement in the creation and advancement of music. Once again, she was the first woman and first African to receive the prize - which had been awarded to people like Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney before. Her acceptance speech included the words: "I never thought that one day some little girl from the townships of South Africa would stand before you." This is her legend and legacy - the prevailing message that anything is possible if the heart wants it enough.

Sadly, Miriam Makeba passed away on Sunday 9 November 2008 after a performance in Rome, Italy. Former president Nelson Mandela said "It was fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others - and again in support of a good cause." His tribute is one of many that has been made in her honour.

Miriam Makeba touched so many lives with her joy and generosity. The kindness and loving support she showed the girls will never be forgotten and her legacy will live on through them and the girls that the Makeba Centre will house in the future. Although her passing will leave a void in the lives of all who knew her, she will always remain within our hearts and we will honour her memory by supporting the Centre that she founded.